On this Earth Day, an environmental post. Embodiment, in its most esoteric or spiritual sense, literally means within the body — something, whether an image, a teaching, or a principal, is as much within a person as their physical body.
In an environmental sense, embodied energy refers to the amount of energy that went into a thing, from the ingredients to the making process to the transportation, upkeep and disposal. Much of what is considered in the equation of embodied energy falls outside the realm of normal consumer decisionmaking, being market externalities and inconsistent with the education we all receive in smart buying choices.
For example, take the decision of whether to buy a more fuel-efficient car. Let’s say it’s a LOT more fuel efficient, and you’re going to lease it, so it doesn’t put a big dent in your savings off the bat. Just with the cost on fuel, maybe you break even on the deal in a year. But what was the cost of being another buyer of another car? How long before the savings in fuel efficiency make up for all the energy used to make and ship the car to you? I haven’t done the math but I’m convinced it’s never going to make up the difference.
Part of the perception issue is that the second half of the life cycle of a product’s embodied energy varies depending on how it’s used. The same car has the same embodied energy until it is driven off the lot — but say one is bought by a traveling salesman and the other by a grandmother driving to church on Sundays. Embodied energy changes. Then one sells it, and the other sends it to a landfill. Again, embodied energy changes.
I’m looking for a good resource to tell me the embodied energy of at least the first half of the cycle. I want to know, not only that my clothing was made by adults in a safe environment but that the cloth was appropriately cultivated and not transported too far — to the factory or to me. I want to know that my food is appropriately cultivated, packaged and shipped.
What would happen to our practices if we really knew this stuff?
